Tag Archives: Isles of Scilly

During our recent holiday on Tresco, one of the Isles of Scilly, we were fortunate to have accommodation that looked out across the channel separating Tresco from Bryher. The crossing of the channel at the times of the Spring tides was shown in an earlier post. (See https://lagill6.wordpress.com/2018/10/23/spring-tide-adventurers/)

The first photo shows the view from the lounge The second and third were taken from the patio and show the views to the left and right. In the second photo it is just possible to see the top of the steps leading from the patio to the beach/

The Isles of Scilly include five, small inhabited islands, four of which once formed a single larger island (the exception was St Agnes). But around 3000 years ago rising sea levels divided the land and created the present formation.

The channel between Tresco and Bryher is normally very busy with boats ferrying tourists and residents between islands as well as providing anchorage for visiting yachts. But four or five times a year, for a short while on three or four consecutive days, the sea bed is exposed. It is the time of the Spring tides – a time when it is possible to walk between Tresco and Bryher and, indeed, between Tresco and St Martin’s. For those whose holiday happens to coincide with a Spring tide the walk is often high on their ‘things I must do’ list.

There seems to be a suggestion of tapestry design in this image of lichen photographed on a rock on St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly. The natural pattern is recorded as found. The only licence taken has been the removal of the texture of the granite rock to reveal the pattern more clearly..